Teens gear up for robotics tourney

They came rushing around corners like teams of doctors and nurses bringing a critically ill patient into an operating room — or maybe a champ into the boxing ring.

But these were teams of high school students shuttling their painstakingly built robots from the “pit” to the playing floor.

Harrington Auditorium at Worcester Polytechnic Institute this weekend held the controlled pandemonium of a robotics tournament as the university hosted its inaugural event.

Colleen M. Shaver, WPI’s manager of robotics initiatives, said 29 teams competed there Friday and yesterday, as part of 43 regional FIRST tournaments leading to the national competition at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta next month.

Ms. Shaver said WPI was asked by New Hampshire-based FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, to host a regional tournament because more competition space was needed.

The competition, founded by New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen, requires teams of high school students partnered with local engineers to build a radio-controlled robot in six weeks, using a kit of miscellaneous parts supplied by the organizer. The robots then compete in timed sporting matches that change each year. This year’s theme, “Breakaway,” requires robots to earn points by collecting soccer balls in goals. Extra points are earned for each robot that is lifted off the field at the end of the match.

But there’s more to it than that.

Maura Killeen and Katherine Karwoski, Massachusetts Academy of Math and Sciences seniors on the WPI team, explained that teams consist of robot drivers, pit workers who are required to make snap repairs on robots, and scouts — team members who check out the competition and decide which teams to consider forming alliances with, another key element to advancing to the finals.

The WPI robot, named “The Gompeinator” after the school’s mascot, a goat called Gompei, fared well yesterday and advanced to the qualifying rounds.

Another veteran team, the Aztechs, from Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlboro, was busy getting its robot ready for another match.

Team member Felicia Wilson, a sophomore, said the school usually competes in the regional tournament at Boston University, but switched to WPI because it is closer.

The Aztech pit looked like a machine shop. Besides racks of pliers and plastic boxes of nuts and bolts, there was a cabinet with drawers labeled for drills, chargers, pneumatics, chassis, and “battery stuff.”

The FIRST competitions are designed to foster student interest in science and technology.

Miss Killeen said that while she was already considering an engineering career, participating in FIRST definitely reinforced her decision.

“It’s all very exciting and very cool,” she said.

Teams from Miss Killeen’s school, the Mass. Academy of Math and Sciences — affiliated with WPI — have competed in FIRST since the events began in 1992.

Other area teams that competed at WPI were from Burncoat High, South High Community, and Doherty Memorial High schools in Worcester and Whitinsville Christian Academy. There were also teams from Connecticut, Maine, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.